Fauna

Ask the beasts and they will teach you the beauty of this earth. —Francis of Assisi

Depicting animals connects human cultures across time. Animals are represented in a variety of ways—as symbols, teachers, muses, and companions. They serve as vessels for happiness, distress, environmental issues, gender roles, and more. Whether artists use them literally or figuratively, representations of animals remind us of the animals themselves as well as the qualities and traits we assign to them.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.